Tea History

2737 BC - Chinese Emperor Shen Nung sits beneath a tree while drinking water boils next to him. A leaf from a wild tea plant drops into the water, brewing within. Shen Nung reportedly tries the 'tea' and likes it.

618-906 AD - Tea becomes the predominant beverage in China during the Tang Dynasty and the word ch'a was used to describe tea.

780 AD - Ch'a Ching, a book about tea by Chinese author Lu Yu is published in three volumes. The book features teas' uses, how to brew it, what kinds of utensils to use and more.

850 AD - Arabs bring tea to Middle East.

1000 AD - The Camellia Sinensis - the shrub from which tea leaves are plucked - plant is cultivated throughout Asia, owing to its spread by Buddhists and traders.

1500s AD - Dutch and Portuguese merchants bring tea to Europe; Jesuit priests and missionaries traveling throughout the Far East bring tea with them back to Europe aboard these merchant ships.

1559 AD - Arabs bring tea to Europe via trading with Venice.

1644 AD - Great Britain's East India Company purchases tea from Chinese merchants and imports it to England.

1657 AD - Thomas Garway sells tea in first public sale in London.

1700 AD - Tea has become very popular throughout England, and is sold in hundreds of pubs and coffeehouses in London. Tea was so popular that it was taxed at over 100% of value! In part these taxes led to smuggling of tea into England, and was the spark that kindled the flame of revolution in Britain's American colonies.

1784 AD - With the American Revolution over, Britain lowers its tea taxes to just over 12%.

1800s AD - Anna, 7th Duchess of Bedford, invents Afternoon Tea, a small meal of light snacks and tea, to help with hunger between lunch and dinner.

1845 AD - First 'tea clipper ship' is launched in New York City; these are faster and sleaker than previous merchant ships and are used to race their cargo between China and London

1904 - In New York, merchant Thomas Sullivan packaged loose tea in small cloth bags and silk bags; his customers brewed tea using the bags and the tea-bag was born.

1904 - At St. Louis' Worlds Fair, Richard Blechynden, poured hot tea over ice in the hopes of selling more of his tea to fair-goers on hot summer days.

1952 - The Flo-Thru Tea Bag is invented by Lipton.

1998 - Bengalbay.com is founded and quickly establishes itself with dozens of affordable, quality teas great for a cold winter's day or a hot summer's one.